Moody mobbed and lamb ruined
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by Derren Hayes • A British meat haulier is threatening legal action against a French farmers' union after a mob hijacked and destroyed a £30,000 load of lamb last weekend.
This was the second attack on Grimsby-based reefer operator Moody International. Last month £10,000 worth of lamb was destroyed in Nantes in identical circumstances (CM 28 June-3 July).
On Saturday, Moody's vehicle was surrounded by farmers at Montmarault, in southern France: its load of 850 Welsh lamb carcasses was dumped on the road and destroyed.
The attack has left managing director, Mick Moody stunned: "I've dealt in meat haulage for years and up until a month ago I'd never heard of anything like this," he says. French police watched the latest incident but did nothing to help. He says: "There's nothing anybody can do, it seems. If that happened over here the people would be arrested immediately."
The claim will depend on whether the French Government classes the incident as a "spontaneous disturbance" or "deliberate attack", says the British embassy in Paris.
If an incident is spontaneous the French authorities will pay full compensation with little fuss; if it's deliberate, proceedings would have to be taken against the fanners.